


Dark and Curious Melodies

by miss_murder



Category: Mad T Party Band
Genre: Alternate Universe - Phantom of the Opera Fusion, F/M, Mental Coercion, Taunting, non-wonderland, phantom-esque hatter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 02:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2906231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_murder/pseuds/miss_murder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice think she's happy, but knows in her heart that she isn't. When a mysterious man appears and offers her everything she knows she wants, can she refuse?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Surely, it had to have been a dream. Such mysterious things as these didn't just happen in the real world. She'd nearly convinced herself of this several times, but something in the back of her mind was telling her she was wrong.

Alice didn't teach herself to sing, no matter how likely that seemed. When she was alone at night, a voice came to her from the shadows. It had since she was young. The Voice... it was her friend, her teacher, and her confidant. No matter where Alice was sent or which family member she lived with after her parents died, the Voice followed.

But she wasn't a little girl anymore. Alice had grown into a beautiful young woman, helped through each day by the Voice. She had a job in a band with her friends, a home that they shared, a set routine. She liked it that way- repetitive and safe. The Voice guided her when lost, comforted her when confused, and always softly sang her to sleep at night. 

A few months later, Alice began to grow closer with the bassist in her band. Thackery was kind and good to her, gentle and sweet, but all about propriety. He wouldn't enter her bedroom, only kissed her for a moment at a time, and would hardly touch her beyond holding her hand or putting his arm around her waist. Alice loved Thackery, but their relationship lacked the fire and passion she began to crave.

The Voice had grown quiet during her relationship. For the past year, the only time the Voice came to Alice was at night, sometimes only in her dreams. She hadn't really noticed though, her mind occupied with other, more important things. She'd become distant, distracted, even a little disoriented. Alice was lost in the normality of her life, and the Voice wouldn't take her by the hand and lead her through this time.

\---------

After their last show one evening, all the guys decided to hit the bar, declaring it was time for a boy's night out. Thackery was hesitant to leave Alice, though. She practically had to shove him out the door, insisting that she would be fine alone and that a guy's night was exactly what he needed. Thackery had relented, and Alice was left to her own empty schedule.

It was dark and moonless that night. Alice nursed a cup of tea, trying out new makeup styles in her mirror. The air was warm and the light was soft from dozens of candles.

"Alice...  _Alice_..."

Barely a whisper, yet enough to make her turn and look around the room. "Hello? Is someone there?" she called in her sweet, lilting voice to the still darkness. Nothing. Passing it off as her imagination, she turned back to the mirror, sweeping a brush over her cheekbone in soft, measured strokes.

"I'm here. I'm always here."

This time Alice jumped, dropping the brush. It definitely wasn't her imagination. She heard someone, yet her candlelit room held no occupants but herself. Alice swallowed hard, pulling her dressing gown closer over her pink tank top and black shorts. "Who are you?" At the moment, speaking to the air didn't seem as mad as it should.

"Have you forgotten me so easily?" Oh, that voice. It came from everywhere and nowhere, but Alice wasn't afraid. It stirred something inside her, something familiar, like a memory from long ago. She was entranced by the deep, melodious way the words wrapped around her, caressed her skin and filled her with warmth. "A year of not listening, and you've forgotten the voice you've known since you were a child."

Alice paled. The flames on her candles flickered, then went out completely. She was thrust into darkness, and immediately, she was afraid. She bit her lip and turned in a circle, trying to see something,  _anything_. "I... I'm sorry..." she whispered, lost and frightened and feeling so very alone. "I'm sorry I forgot you, I just... I-I got so busy with the band and Thackery and-"

A snort. "What, that Earwicket bunny?" Alice growled that he was a hare. "Don't lie to yourself, my little Alice. Are you sure what you feel is love?"

"Of course I love him. What does that-"

"I'm not finished, and that's not what I asked," the Voice said. Alice suddenly felt cornered, as if something was circling her, it the predator and she the prey. "I've watched you from the shadows. You say you love that fool, but you long for something more than he's willing to give you. You want passion, fire, romance, wanton touches that make your knees weak and leave you needing more." The Voice chuckled darkly. "I bet that...  _boy_ hasn't even touched you beneath your blouse."

Alice's face heated as she emitted an indignant squeak. "Oh, and you have? Thackery is good to me. He's gentle and kind and sweet... he'd never do anything to hurt m-" Something that felt suspiciously like a pair of lips, soft and warm, brushed across her neck, making the rest of her body go weak. Any remaining words died in her throat, all thoughts sinking away to be swallowed by some thick cloud of forgotten feeling.

The lips moved away, leaving the blonde with a racing heart and heaving chest. Slowly, like stage lights at a snail's pace, some odd light appeared seemingly from nowhere. Deep and purple, barely a glow and growing only bright enough for her to see her hands at her sides. Once again, she was alone.

Alice was afraid now. What was happening to her? The glow was coming from a full-length mirror on the opposite side of her room. Mechanically, she walked towards it without thinking. A fog had settled over her mind, and her movements almost didn't feel like her own. She blinked at her reflection. Her reflection blinked back. Alice couldn't remember what was right and wrong anymore. Good and bad seemed to melt together into a swirling temptation that the Voice offered to her.

"Who are you?" she asked softly. Her mirrored twin spoke in jinx with her.

"Who am I not?" the Voice replied. "I am a man of many hats, you could say."

"But which hat do you wear now?" Alice reached out to touch the glass. But nothing registered under her fingers, just empty air. Her reflection rippled. She jumped back.

All at once, her reflection disappeared. The room was flooded with light. Merely the light of many candles, but after being in the dark, it made Alice squint. After her eyes adjusted, she saw a long stone corridor where her mirror should have been, lit by dozens of tapered white candles in brass sconces that made the wet stones shine like gold. But she was not alone anymore. A tall man in slightly eccentric dress leaned against the mouth of the corridor, holding a candelabra. He held out one hand to her.

"I wear whatever hat you wish me to wear," the man crooned. Alice's heart leapt to her throat and she gasped. It was the Voice falling from his lips. There was a man to the words, though half of his face was obscured by a pale ivory mask.

Without thinking, unable to think at all, Alice slipped her delicate hand into his red-leather-gloved one, letting him lead her into the passageway without looking back.


	2. Chapter 2

A thick fog had consumed Alice's mind, denying her the ability to ration. She thought nothing of letting this strange man lead her through an unfamiliar passage leading heaven-knew-where. Rather, her eyes slid over him, learning what she could from how he looked. That wasn't much.

The man was lean and tall, but he looked strong. Long, bright orange hair fell from beneath a colorful top hat with peacock feathers and extra-long hatpins stuck in the band. At times, he turned back to look at her, as if checking to make sure she was still there despite the fact that her hand was tightly clasped in his. Only then did she catch glimpses of the mask he wore, covering the left side of his face.

 _Curiouser and curiouser,_ Alice thought, her eyes trained on the man as they descended a long, winding staircase of crudely cut stone.  _Who is this man to hide behind a mask? What could he... what could_ the Voice  _want of me?_

At times, as the two went further into the unknown and the air grew cooler, Alice grew frightened. The boys would be back soon and when Thackery found her missing, he'd tear apart the whole state until she was found. Several times she tried to turn back, but the man just tightened his hold on her, singing dark and beautiful melodies from distant lands until she relaxed and followed again. By the time they stopped, she felt as if she were floating, not a tense muscle in her body.

Alice looked around the enormous cavern. Surely, they had to be at least a mile underground, maybe further. The walls were oddly shaped and rough, as if they'd been cut with dynamite. They probably had. But Alice was enchanted by the pure newness of it. A grand space unfolded before her, with little apses scattered around the perimeter, each to serve a different purpose. And the entire cavern was filled with the golden light of hundreds of candles. 

"It's so beautiful..." she purred, turning to the man. "Is this where you live?"

"This is my sanctuary as much as my home," he replied, spreading his arms wide. "Secrets come to rest and die here, buried by time and forgotten. This is a place of refuge, where no one hides their true selves." He took off his hat and placed it on a small but of a long-forgotten someone.

Alice brushed her slender fingers along the keys of a grand piano, playing a tinkling little tune. "It's wonderful. All of it." She looked up at him again. "Do you have a name?"

"I have many names, dear Alice," he replied. "I pick them up from where others discard them, cast aside like snapped rubber bands."

"But what should  _I_ call you?"

The man pondered this for a moment, tapping a long finger against his chin. "Tarrant," he finally replied. "That is the name I was born with, I think."

"Tarrant." Alice rolled the name around, testing it on her tongue. She drifted away from the piano, which was covered in hand-written sheets of music and feathered quill pens, and inspected the other alcoves. One was filled with a rainbow of fabrics and things that sparkled, with an old fashioned sewing machine against the wall and papers hanging on the walls with sketches of beautiful costumes and colorful outfits on them. Another was filled with paints and brushes, pastels, colored pencils, and thick stacks of all kinds of paper. The walls were absolutely covered with artwork, even some on the ceiling. Some were beautiful landscapes of a land where the mountains were crystal and there were forests of mushrooms taller than redwood trees. Some were still lifes, some studies of areas and workers from the theme park where Alice worked. But most of them were of Alice. In every medium, from different angles and capturing different expressions, but each of the pieces had something in common. Tarrant had made her breathtakingly beautiful on every page.

Alice's breath caught. "Oh... they're incredible!" Tarrant nodded his thanks. She turned, seeing he'd come closer to her. "Why am I here?" she finally asked.

Tarrant was quiet for what seemed like ages. His deep gold gaze pierced through to her soul, as if he could see her every thought and read each of her desires. Alice blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I am lonely," he said, his voice low and cautious. "I have been alone for so many years, and who better to remedy that than the girl who has been with me since her childhood?"

Alice blushed again. "But why me? Surely, you know other people. Other better, much prettier women than me.:

Again, silence. "I do not want anyone else. You are everything I could ever need." Tarrant stepped forward, Alice stepped back. They moved like this until Alice had her back pressed against the wall and Tarrant still drew closer. "I have done everything I could to give you the life you have always wanted. You used to be so close to me, telling me everything that was on your mind. I watched you grow up from the shadows while I stayed forever young. Do not ask why, because I do not know myself."

He continued, "I watched you become a beautiful young woman, Alice, so bright and strong." Tarrant's hand rested on her smooth alabaster cheek, and Alice suddenly became very conscious of her shorts and low-cut tank top. "I thought we would be together forever. Then that... Earwicket  _fool_ swooped in and took you away from me. You became lost without my guidance. Yet... you promised."

Suddenly, Alice remembered. A promise she had made to the Voice as a distraught little girl, just after her parents' deaths. She'd been crying in front of their freshly turned graves, sitting in the dirt even though she still wore her best black dress. The Voice had comforted her and quieted her cries. A promise had been made that day. Once Alice was old enough, she and the Voice would run away from the pains and sorrows of the world to a place where everything was pure and sweet and good and they'd always be together, if such a place existed. But she had just been a little girl then, innocent to the ways of fate. Alice knew better than to believe in such fantasies now.

"I have spent all these years creating that place for you." Tarrant gestured to the cavern. "Only one crucial part is missing."

Alice's heart was racing, but not with fear. More like desire for the man pressed against her. His scent was dark, rich, and alluring, just like him. She was slowly losing her train of thought, all of her previous anxieties and uncertainties melting away. "And wh-... what is that?" she stuttered, trying to keep enough of her head clear to speak.

"You."

Alice's head faltered for a beat. There was nowhere for her to run with Tarrant's arms trapping her on both sides, a cool, hard wall of rock at her back and an alluring, warm, solid body pressing to her front. The sensation was dizzying. In her right mind, she would have thought him mad and pushed him away. The problem was that she wasn't in her right mind. She didn't know what to think except that Tarrant might be responsible for making her feel the way she did. No, she knew he was.

Soft, pliable lips brushed across her neck, gently dragging across the patch of skin beneath her ear that elicited gasps and stuttered sighs from her lips. Alice's knees grew weak, her mind now a bubbling, quickly shrinking mass of melted thoughts and foggy memories. She clutched at Tarrant's shoulders. As much as it pained her to do so, she tried to push him away. He frowned and held her tight against him.

"Stop... please..." Alice forced out. "This... this isn't right..."

"Of course it is right," Tarrant protested. "You know that I know exactly what you really want, and that is me."

Alice looked up at him, frowning.  _Why is he so tall?!_ She was put off by the stark contrast of his white mask compared to his tanned skin and carrot-orange hair. What was he trying to hide, anyway? Though surely he wouldn't let her just take it off. No, she had to be clever. She ran one small hand up his chest, cupping his unmasked cheek. Tarrant sighed softly at the touch and closed his eyes. But when he felt her fingers inching towards the mask, his entire disposition changed. He turned away from her so suddenly, she gave a startled squeak. But he was not angry. Rather, he hunched his shoulders and wrapped his arms around his middle, signs of both shyness and fright.

Alice took a small step forward. "I-is everything-"

"No." The single syllable echoed through the cavern. "I may have done this all for you, Alice, and given you free reign, but that is one thing I will not allow."

"What, taking off your mask? I hardly see a problem in-" 

"I said it will not be allowed!" Tarrant stormed, spinning around to face her as his eyes seemed to flare red. Alice gasped and shrunk away. At the sight of this, the man's disposition cooled. "Please, forgive me... but still, the answer is no."

"But why?"

Two innocent, simple words made Tarrant stop, inspecting the young woman before him. Not coldly or with cruelty or malice, but with... sorrow? When he spoke again, his voice was small and quiet.

"Because... I do not want to frighten you."

"Right now, the mask is frightening me more than anything that could be hiding underneath it. "She reached out towards him, only to have him flinch away again. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Please, do not..." he pleaded. "Trust me, it is better if you do not know."

"You speak of trust while wearing a mask," Alice scoffed. "You, sir, are a walking contradiction."

She reached out once more. Tarrant still flinched, but didn't move away. Carefully, she lifted the piece of ivory away. What she saw caused her to gasp and drop the mask. Initially, she was indeed scared. But her expression quickly softened to one of sorrow and pity.

The left side of Tarrant's face was a red, ravaged battlefield of scars, completely deforming his once-beautiful features. From his hairline to his jaw, his skin was puckered and rough and raw, speaking truth to a different lifetime of fighting and hardship. Alice understood why he hid behind a mask. She reached out to gently touch a large, jagged scar that ran from the corner of his eye to his jawbone. Tarrant flinched, unable to meet her eyes.

"Oh..." she breathed out, barely more than a sigh. "What happened to you?"

It took a long time for Tarrant to speak again. "There... was a war. I was merely the royal hatter to the queen, but it was ordered that every able-bodied man and woman who could be spared was to report to fight. The training was painfully insufficient before we were sent to the battlefield. Then, then enemy surprised us, planted a bomb near our camp." Alice's eyes grew wide, and Tarrant took a deep breath before continuing. "I was far enough away to miss the initial blast. Others were not so lucky. However, I was at the mercy of the shrapnel."

Alice's eyes burned. Her heart wrenched in sorrow for this man and the hardships he'd suffered. Surely, there was more he didn't want to say if he'd resorted to hiding in the shadows and underground.  _'Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known?'_ ran unwarranted through her head.

Without really thinking, she muttered the rest of the lyric, "God give me courage to show you, you are not alone." And of course, she willingly accepted the kiss that followed.

Tarrant's lips were slightly chapped, but Alice couldn't care less. His kiss was passionate and warm, and his body was solid as she pressed herself against him. One of her hands slid into his hair, smooth as silk, and the other clutched at the back of his shoulder, gathering a handful of his shirt. Tarrant held her hips and pressed their bodies together, craving that closeness and contact. After so long of being alone, the heat she gave off was tantalizing. He'd spent too many lonely years in the shadows.

As they finally pulled away, Alice was flooded with breath all at once. She didn't want to open her eyes for fear this would all melt away as a dream. Her hands on Tarrant's back and in his hair were definite and solid, as were his hands on her. All her mind was dedicated to him and the thought of kissing him again.

"You are full of fire and life," he murmured, moving his hands all over her, memorizing her dips and curves, her edges and the spots that made her lips part with a sweet, soft gasp. "And I... I am alone. Your voice gives me the courage and strength to live day after day. Why do you think I taught you to sing?"

Alice all but moaned as he explored her body, starbursts of electric need bursting just underneath her skin.  _Ohh..._ this was something she'd  _never_ experienced with Thackery. She swallowed hard and moved both hands up to run thick strands of hair through her fingers "What... can I do?"

"Stay with me."

Alice's eyes flew open. That was certainly not something she'd expected him to say. Tarrant didn't falter in his intimate touches. She didn't want him to stop, but she felt as if her rib cage had suddenly constricted, making it even harder to breathe. "What... why..."

Tarrant pressed harder against her. She could sense him slipping back into that harsh possessiveness that had surfaced earlier, but this time she wasn't afraid. Rather, it excited her. "I am  _dying_ , Alice, suffocating alone in the dark," he murmured against the tender skin of her neck. "Give me life, Alice. Give me breath." His hands tightened around her hips. "Stay and sing for me!"

So many thoughts banged around in her head. Of her life in the light and the day: her home, her friends, society, Thackery... being unsatisfied with her relationship and always having a nagging sense that something was missing. Then, there was the idea of her life with Tarrant: darkness, intimacy, beauty, art, everything that Tarrant would give her that Thackery wouldn't... hiding in the shadows, isolated for the rest of her days. How could she choose between a safe, unhappy life and a lonely life with everything she could ever want?

Again, she had to steel herself against the pain of pressing her hands to Tarrant's chest and pushing him away from her. His expression was confused. Her body had flushed under his hands and tingled in response to his touch; why would she push him away now?

Alice took a moment to level her breathing. She smoothed back her hair with one hand, then looked the ginger man straight in his golden eyes despite his horrific scarring. "I'm too conflicted to choose right now," she said softly, lifting one hand to gently cup his cheek, stroking his high cheekbone. "Please... may I have some time to think about it?"

Sadness crashed over Tarrant's face like a wave. It may have been a trick of the light but for a moment, Alice thought she saw vivid green bleed into his eyes. He closed them, gritting his teeth like he was fighting a war with himself. When he looked at her again, his eyes were still gold.

"As you wish, dear Alice," he said, but his tone reflected a level of hurt that made Alice flinch. "You may have as much time as you need." He reached for the mask from where Alice had dropped it. He slipped it back over his face, the disformation hidden once again. But now that she knew what was beneath the piece of ivory, he looked different than he had earlier somehow.

She followed him back the way they'd came without question, feeling as if she'd made the wrong decision.

o0o0o

When Alice woke in the morning, she had the memories of a most vivid and... seductive dream, and the taste of tea and something dark and smoky on her lips. But surely, it had to have been a dream. Such mysterious things as these didn't just happen in the real world. She'd nearly convinced herself of that many times, but something in the back of her mind kept telling her she was wrong.


End file.
